A Piece of What?

by Benji Raymond

"What have I got? Really? Some money in my pocket, some nice threads, fancy car at my disposal, and I'm single. Yeah... unattached, free as a bird... I don't depend on nobody and nobody depends on me... My life's my own. But I don't have peace of mind. And if you don't have that, you've got nothing. So... what's the answer? That's what I keep asking myself. What's it all about? You know what I mean?" (Alfie, 2004)

--------------------------------------

Alfie appears to have everything. He has money, fancy clothes and the ability to charm females. He appears to lead the perfect life. He’s happy... but he’s lost...

The difference between ‘peace of mind’ and ‘happiness’ is a marginal one, albeit significant. Happiness is more likely to be short-lived while peace of mind is reliant on what you believe to be true and the way you go about being true to yourself. If a person follows what they believe to be true, there is little reason for them not to have peace of mind. And yet, what we believe to be true and truth itself are often unrelated. Time and again we consciously and sub-consciously repeat to ourselves that we are indeed being true to our beliefs. The consequence of this is not surprising. Throughout the process of cheating ourselves we gain an understanding of something to be true while it is evidently untrue. Despite the cheating, the only losers are ourselves. The struggle of gaining peace of mind is not an easy one. In fact, if you do it right, it should just about take you more than a lifetime.

One of the judges on Australian Idol once said to a contestant, “Your singing and music are like bubblegum. It tastes really good for a while, but the taste fades away exponentially.” The remark was highly unnecessary, but this judge had a particularly superior knack at being insensitive. All the same, the remark has a degree of truth to it when comparing the differences between happiness and ‘peace of mind’. Happiness feels great but is often short lived and is reliant on our degree of comfort (both physically and emotionally).

An example which adds weight to the above notion is my mid-year resolution which appears to be easy but is unfortunately proving otherwise! Before I go to bed each night, I mentally work out the amount of time I need to prepare for the following day’s activities. I take into account what needs to be done prior to leaving for work or university and set my alarm clock appropriately. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the snooze button on my alarm clock was becoming warn out and fading away (figuratively speaking). Each morning the alarm clock buzzes away and I continue pressing the snooze button for a good half an hour or so. I am happy and very comfortable having the extra few minutes of sleep despite the unwavering fear of the alarm clock going off again. The fact of the matter is I'm not even benefitting from the extra sleep since I am in constant fear of the alarm clock going off. Although a superficial case in point, in reality, I am not being true to myself and yet I seemingly appear to be happy. The happiness, unfortunately is short lived. Those extra few minutes of sleep throw the rest of my day off balance.

Often we travel so quickly through life that we forget to account for who we are and what we are doing. Sadly, we consider traveling through life swiftly to be a positive characteristic. It is futile to travel through life hurriedly when you are uncertain of the direction you’re heading in. All too often we realize this too late, and sometimes never at all. Sooner or later the truth hits us where it hurts and the longer it takes for us to look truth in the eye, the harder it hurts.

A Long December